View Single Post
  #11  
Old 03-05-2017, 08:10 PM
swaghauler swaghauler is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: PA
Posts: 1,481
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dark View Post
I would go longer for an atlatl's range. On my first day using one, I was doing direct fire (i.e. not trying to loft darts) at a target 30 yards away. With my mediocre strength, that should be extreme range, but it was closer to short/medium in how I was launching the darts. I'm also not sure it should be tied to strength; like a pitcher throwing a baseball, there is a minimum level of strength needed, but the technique matters more than brute power.

935 grains would be light for an English warbow arrow. Based on Mary Rose reconstructions, military arrows look to have ranged from 1200 to 1500 grains. From a 150-lb bow (most of the Mary Rose bows are 150-160), a 1500 grain arrow would generate 134 joules at launch, 115 joules at 50 meters, 98 joules at 100 meters, 85 joules at 150 meters, 80 joules at 180 meters, and 78 joules at 200 meters. At 100 meters, it might penetrate maille over a gambeson, but not plate of 2mm or greater thickness. A broadhead, because it would spread the energy over a broader surface, would have less or no Pen (but probably more Dam) against hard armor. Kevlar gets weird with cutting versus piercing.
I didn't know about the Mary Rose reconstructions. Thanks for pointing it out. It was a good read. My experience came from shooting a replica "Mongol Composite Recurve" bow (120lb draw weight) with that 935-grain arrow. My back hurt the next day from shooting it.

I think that when you look at the energies used for "ethical hunting," you see that 60 Times the actual energy is an average ratio for all bows. I would say that it might be possible to come up with an "Energy Multiplier" to multiply the Base Energy of projectile weapons by BEFORE you do the calculation to determine the Damage Dice. A Multiplier of 25 jumps out at me initially, but I haven't tested it yet.
Reply With Quote